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European Registry of Cardiac Arrest - Study TWO (EuReCa TWO)

An international, prospective, multi-centre,
three-month survey of epidemiology, treatment and outcome of patients suffering
an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Europe

In October
2017, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), together with national resuscitation
registries and resuscitation councils, will commence the second European-wide
study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Sudden OHCA is the third
leading cause of death in industrialised nations. In Europe, more than 350,000
patients are affected every year. And 100.000 could be saved if lay
resuscitation – giving chest-compressions immediately and before arrival of the
emergency medical services (EMS) – was improved all over Europe.

The aim of
the EuReCa TWO study is to create a detailed overview of epidemiology, lay
resuscitation rates, treatment and outcome of patients suffering from OHCA in
Europe. This will be a solid basis to help save many patients. The EuReCa ONE
study in 2014, collected data from over 10,000 cases of OHCA from 27 European
countries in one month. The duration of the EuReCa TWO study is extended to
three months and has a special focus on lay resuscitation, i.e. bystander resuscitation.
It also focuses on the unique aspects of the EMS in each participating country.

EuReCa TWO data
collection will commence on 1st October 2017 and will end on 31st December
2017. In order to allow comparison of results with other international
registries, data collection will be based on the Utstein data template, with
some additional data points.

The EuReCa
TWO study is organized by an international steering committee, bringing
together some of the most experienced scientists in resuscitation research. The
study management team is led by the principal investigator Jan-Thorsten Gräsner,
MD of the German Resuscitation Registry. The study is supported by the ERC and
the ERC Director of Science and Research, Bernd W. Böttiger, MD who is a member
of the steering committee.

As stated
by Jan-Thorsten Gräsner, MD:

“In order to
improve the rate of survival following OHCA, it is important to know as much as
possible about the treatment and epidemiology in different European countries. This
knowledge will enable us to refine the guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation
in the future”.

Uniform
data collection, reporting of epidemiology, management and outcome of cardiac
arrest, is essential information in improving the quality of treatment for
cardiac arrest patients.

In order to
establish a European database with uniform and reliable data, the ERC decided
that a European Registry of Cardiac Arrest (EuReCa) was a high priority. EuReCa
was established in 2008 with the objective of creating a uniform, Utstein-based
recording of incidence, characteristics, interventions and outcome of cardiac
arrest.

EuReCa
stimulates a culture of collaboration between health care professionals and
scientists, and creates a sense of urgency for improving quality in line with
the objective of ERC: “To preserve human life by making high quality resuscitation
available to all”.

Europe is
typically characterised by a wide variety of EMS structures and organisations.
Understanding differences between regions and countries is a major challenge
for EuReCa.

EuReCa is a
big family, now covering 29 European countries with a population of more than
175 million, Every participant, large or small, understands the strength of
uniform reporting, and its power for benchmarking quality of care. The key for
success is that each participating region has an equal voice in the planning
and organisation of specific studies, such as EuReCa-ONE and EuReCa-TWO and the
many studies to follow.

“The 29
EuReCa-participants showed not only that good quality registration of cardiac
arrest and resuscitation is feasible, but also that benchmarking, feedback and
learning from each other are powerful mechanisms for improving quality. These are strong incentives for the remaining
European regions to join the EuReCa family,” said Leo Bossaert, MD, a founding
father of ERC and EuReCa.